Lakewood Avenue Children's School

Preschool Ages 1-5

Lakewood at Home

Lakewood for Toddlers: May 29

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Happy Friday! It looks like more stormy weather may be on the way today. We hope you are safe and dry. We will be continuing the Lakewood at Home blog series through the month of June and hope you will join us for more invitations for young children.

Art Invitation: Markers and paper

Today we think this simple invitation for mark-making would be lovely. If your markers are starting to dry out, you can offer them with a small jar with just a little water in it. Children can dip the marker tip in the water and rejuvenate it a little. 

Mark making is a common language for self-expression and creativity. Today we want to offer something simple for the end of the week. 

Fine Motor Invitation: Packing for a picnic

We have been thinking a lot about how children construct transportation schema, the way they carry things around and the satisfaction they find in these tasks. Today we are wondering what your toddler might pack for a picnic. Would they pack dishes? Food? Toys? Invite your child to help fill a basket or bag with the things they would need for an indoor or porch picnic.

Dramatic Play Invitation: Teddy bear picnic

Once the picnic bag has been packed and repacked, set up a picnic for your child and some teddy bear or doll friends. It looks like it may be wet/stormy today so it might be a good day for a cozy under the table picnic, or a porch picnic, or a pillow fort picnic. You can offer a snack, or pretend food. 

Lakewood for Middlers: May 29

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Happy Friday! We made it through another week! Next week it will be June. This blog will continue until Lakewood reopens. We hope you will continue to join us.

Sensory/Cooking Invitation: Make a smoothie today!
Have your child add their favorite fruits and/or veggies into the blender along with whatever juice, milk, or yogurt you like to use and ice. Have your child press the buttons to turn the blender on/off.

Possible dialogue:
“How many fruits/veggies are we adding?”
“What color do you think the smoothie will be after it’s blended?”
“Does the blender make a loud or soft noise?”
“What color is the smoothie now that it’s finished?”

Intent: This sensory activity allows for middlers to explore all of their senses. They will touch all of the ingredients, observe how the fruit changes in the blender, hear the loud noise of the blender, and smell/taste it when it is done!

Outdoor/Nature/Gross Motor Invitation: Rainy Day Scavenger Hunt!

  • Find a puddle (stomp in the puddle if you can!!)
  • Name something you hear
  • Find an umbrella
  • Find rain boots
  • Name something grey you see
  • How many rain drops can you count on the window?
  • Find a worm
  • Find some mud
  • Name something you see in the sky

 

Intent: We want to encourage the middlers to get outside and use all of their big body muscles to enhance gross motor development. Even on a rainy day we can make new discoveries and move our bodies.

Art/Science Invitation:  Grow a Rainbow

You will need a paper towel, washable markers, and two small glasses with water in them. Fold over your piece of paper towel (so you have two pieces on top of each other). Draw rectangles of the rainbow colors on each end of the paper towel. Make sure your colors are fully filled in and dark so the colors will travel up the paper towel when placed in water. Place two cups filled with enough water so only the bottom of each side of the paper towel are touching the water. Place your colored paper towel into the cups, with one end in each cup (do not place the ends too deep, or the colors will dissolve instead of moving up the paper towel). Now you can watch the colors slowly make their way up the paper towel!

Use this link for a video with visual description of this activity: https://www.thebestideasforkids.com/grow-a-rainbow-experiment/?jwsource=cl

 

Variation: Have your child color however they want on the ends to see the colors move!

Intent: This activity allows for a different way to explore art and creative expression. This simple science experiment is a great example of chromatography. Ask your child what they think will happen before you fully finish the experiment! See if their hypothesis is correct!/sci

Lakewood for PreK: May 29

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Happy Friday! It looks like more stormy weather may be on the way today. We hope you are safe and dry. We will be continuing the Lakewood at Home blog series through the month of June and hope you will join us for more invitations for young children.

Language/Literacy Invitation: Carla’s Sandwich by Debbie Herman or The Sandwich Swap by Queen Rania of Jordan Al Abdullah

Both of these books are about trying a new kind of sandwich, and also about friendship. If you do not have them in your book collection, you may be able to find a digital copy through Durham County Library, or you can watch/listen to Carla’s Sandwich by Debbie Herman or The Sandwich Swap by Queen Rania of Jordan Al Abdullah using these links. Invite your child to think about something new they may have tasted recently, and about what they would put in a sandwich. Would they do something they already know, or want to invent something new? Can they draw what they would make or dictate the recipe?

Cooking/Fine Motor Invitation: Making a sandwich

Making a sandwich is a simple exercise for self-help and fine-motor skills. You can offer your child whatever you have available as sandwich “bread” (we used crackers for our photo shoot) and fillings. Small sandwiches are an excellent way to try new combinations and are perfect for a teddy bear picnic.

Dramatic Play Invitation: Teddy bear picnic

It looks like the weather will be wet and possibly stormy today, the perfect weather for an under-the-table picnic or pillow fort picnic or possibly a porch picnic. Find an old blanket and help your child spread it out. They can invite some stuffed animals and dolls or possibly a sibling to share their sandwiches.  Invite your child to set up the picnic and clean up after they are done. 

Lakewood for PreK: May 28

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Good morning! More wet and stormy weather possible today. Here are a few invitations for preschoolers.

Large Motor Invitation: Shape hunt adventure

The weather looks too stormy for an outdoor adventure today, so you might consider inviting your child to go on a shape hunt around your house. You can invite them to find one particular shape, or several different ones (circle, triangle, rectangle). Where can they find shapes? You could make a simple tally sheet, or invite them to draw or photograph the shapes, or perhaps they would like to collect the shapes in one place.

This invitation calls on shape recognition (similar shapes), and possibly tallying, drawing or photography.

Building Invitation: Building with shapes

This invitation works well with loose parts, unit blocks, pattern blocks or magnetic blocks like Magnatiles. Invite your child to create something using simple shapes. What can they make?

Art/Fine Motor Invitation: Shape collage

Cut out simple shapes in a variety of sizes. Add some glue or a glue stick and a surface like paper or cardboard. Invite your child to create a work of art using the shapes. If you scroll down through this link, you will find examples of famous works of art that use shapes. These might be inspirational for your preschooler as they work with the shapes and glue.